Islander awareness

[Alan Shore]

You may know Fifita Moala, the Melbourne winger. He is either Samoan or Tongan. Anyway, when he came to Brisbane, he walked onto the field and wanted to play Yawnion! Officials told him it was a rugby league club, and guess what? He had NEVER HEARD of rugby league before! Surely this is a clear message that we need heavy promotion in these areas?

 

[TheFirstRabbitoh]

Pretty much no one in the Pacific has ever heard of league.

New Caledonia, PNG and New Zealand are notable exceptions, but generally union's well entrenched and there aren't even really comps running for league.

 

[Big Bunny]

Pretty much no one in the Pacific has ever heard of league.

New Caledonia, PNG and New Zealand are notable exceptions, but generally union's well entrenched and there aren't even really comps running for league.

Where exactly do you get that from?

Tonga has two grades in a league that is expanding each year. They get the NRL on TV in prime time.

Samoa has reintroduced the game this year after a 2 year absence. Prior to the game being cut, there were more than 30 clubs compared to the current 12.

Cook Islands have a domestic league and it is on par with union in the popularity stakes.

Fiji operates two divisions and the people have been well aware of rugby league there ever since Noa Nadruka racked up 22 tries in 1992.

Rugby league may not be played in the rest of the Pacific but as has been stated before, New Caledonia's population alone in greater than all of those other nations populations combined.

 

[roopy]

The biggest concentration of people with a Pacific Island heritage is in Auckland NZ, and the Pacific Islanders make up a huge part of the League community in Auckland as well.
The majority of the Warriors are Pacific Islanders born in NZ.

At the moment Union gives more opportunities and more money to the Pacific Island teams because they can play in Japan and play sevens and play in the Union World Cup, so Union is the bigger sport at present, but League is starting to gain ground as people see players making a fair living out of playing for NRL clubs.

The Pacific Islands are poor, and it all comes down to which sport can offer talented young guys a chance to make a buck. If League started making a few millionaires out of guys from Fiji, we would be swamped with young guys trying to make the grade.

 

[Dirty Hoe]

You may know Fifita Moala, the Melbourne winger. He is either Samoan or Tongan. Anyway, when he came to Brisbane, he walked onto the field and wanted to play Yawnion! Officials told him it was a rugby league club, and guess what? He had NEVER HEARD of rugby league before! Surely this is a clear message that we need heavy promotion in these areas?

Get ya story right mate...it was Tasesa Lavea who turned up to Norths taraining looking for a game of union, but with Norths being a League club he decided to play that instead.

Moala played for Tonga in the 2000 World Cup....he and Lavea both came to Australia via NZ, where they had heard of League!!

 

[TheFirstRabbitoh]

Pretty much no one in the Pacific has ever heard of league.

New Caledonia, PNG and New Zealand are notable exceptions, but generally union's well entrenched and there aren't even really comps running for league.

Where exactly do you get that from?

Tonga has two grades in a league that is expanding each year. They get the NRL on TV in prime time.

Samoa has reintroduced the game this year after a 2 year absence. Prior to the game being cut, there were more than 30 clubs compared to the current 12.

Cook Islands have a domestic league and it is on par with union in the popularity stakes.

Fiji operates two divisions and the people have been well aware of rugby league there ever since Noa Nadruka racked up 22 tries in 1992.

Rugby league may not be played in the rest of the Pacific but as has been stated before, New Caledonia's population alone in greater than all of those other nations populations combined.

I got it mostly from talking to people who'd been disillusioned with league packing up shop in Samoa. Must admit, I wasn't aware it had restarted.

I had heard of the Fijian comp, but mostly in terms of it being very new and under-exposed.

 

[dimitri]

the key is more international matches and tests

more tours

more nrl club tours in pacific like the broncos

more world 7s exposure


etc

 

[TheFirstRabbitoh]

Where's the money going to come from, Dimitri?

 

[hgfds]

Isnt the money going to come from the tri-series ie international league being marketed seperately,also when the oz tv deal expires in 2006 my understanding is that the internationals will be marketed seperately in oz.currently we have the situation where international leaague is marketed with the domestic season.RLewis is doing a good job the southern hemisphere have to ensure all the money is not spent in europe.

 

[Stevo_G]

when you see the nz team play and the warriors would it be fair to say mostly polynesians play league in nz rather than the caucasion kiwis

 

[dimitri]

Where's the money going to come from, Dimitri?

tv rights

both nrl and international
world cups
tri series
world sevens

etc etc

 

[TheFirstRabbitoh]

Yeah, but will money from TV rights etc go into organising matches between nations with only a couple hundred league players between them (ie Samoa vs Tonga)?

Won't money along those sources just go back to Australia and NZ (ie, the countries that are actually making the money from TV rights)?

And on a side topic, did the world 7s make any money (the World Cup didn't)?

 

[dimitri]

the world sevens made a small profit

 

[Anonymous]

Get ya story right mate...it was Tasesa Lavea who turned up to Norths taraining looking for a game of union, but with Norths being a League club he decided to play that instead.

Moala played for Tonga in the 2000 World Cup....he and Lavea both came to Australia via NZ, where they had heard of League!!

Yeah, I could have sworn Moala was eligible for New Zealand? Obviously poor old Tama got a bit confused there.

 

[The Observer]

Dirty Hoe, you got it wrong. Fifita Moala turned up to Brisbane Norths training looking for a game of RU - its in his profile on the Storm website.
The Storm recruited Tasesa Lavea and his twin brother Tai from NZ where they were Junior All Blacks. They did not make their way ovre to Aus on their own bat.

Moala was born in Auckland, NZ of Tongan parentage. He played for mate Ma'a Tonga in the RLWC 2000. He is eligible for the NZ Kiwis through place of birth, where he grew up and played his junior RU. He would be a good backup winger behind Faafili, Meli and Utai.

 

[Alan Shore]

Dirty Hoe, you got it wrong. Fifita Moala turned up to Brisbane Norths training looking for a game of RU - its in his profile on the Storm website.
The Storm recruited Tasesa Lavea and his twin brother Tai from NZ where they were Junior All Blacks. They did not make their way ovre to Aus on their own bat.

Moala was born in Auckland, NZ of Tongan parentage. He played for mate Ma'a Tonga in the RLWC 2000. He is eligible for the NZ Kiwis through place of birth, where he grew up and played his junior RU. He would be a good backup winger behind Faafili, Meli and Utai.

Yeah. I knew I was right.

 

[Dirty Hoe]

hmm I wrote that off the top of my head....didnt use some website to find it out :?